John Paul Jones Missing Body

The body of Brother John Paul Jones, "Father of the American Navy" was lost for 113 years. Brother Jones died a lonely and forgotten man in Paris in 1792. A friend paid for a lead coffin and Jones was buried in the Protestant cemetery.  Appointed ambassador to France in 1899, General Horace Porter became obsessed with finding Brother Jones' remains. He found them, well-preserved thanks to the lead coffin, after a six year search. The US government transported the American hero's remains home Where President and Masonic Brother Theodore Roosevelt presided over a grand funeral.  Eventually Jones' remains were placed in an elaborate sarcophagus at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.